On the ballot: Black voters and California's Proposition 8

Barack Obama's election to the top office in the United States was accomplished in part by his recruitment of thousands of new black voters. But though the president-elect is one of the more liberal members of the Senate, his constituency has a conservative streak. Nowhere is that clearer than in California, where the passage of Proposition 8 — an amendment to the state constitution that will ban gay marriage — can partially be attributed to conservative leanings among many black voters. So what does that say about the soon-to-be president's mandate? The Takeaway talks to Joe Hicks, a commentator for Pajamas TV and a talk show host with KFI.

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Comments [2]

thelea

I am upset about this erroneous finger pointing at African-Americans regarding Proposition 8. Why are you so quick to believe whatever you hear? This political year was fraught with right wing lies. Bear that in mind.

Don't trust exit polls. I think they are pitting one group against the other. African-Americans are less than 7% of the state population, do the math. Many more Whites voted and they put this over, not Blacks. What are the total numbers of each group that voted. Someone dug into the data and found that we're just now learning is that the exit poll was based on less than 2,300 people. If you take into account that blacks in California only make up about 6.2%, we get roughly 224 blacks who were polled. 224 blacks to blame an entire race! The original percentage of black voters who were expected to say yes to Prop 8 was only around 52-58%. Anytime you get a vote that much higher over the projected vote, something went wrong.

As a lesbian in a committed relationship I was disappointed but not crushed by Prop 8 passing. As much as I believe it really is a civil rights issue - not a religious one, I also believe the gay community is stronger when we have something to bump against. I used to go to the Michigan Women's Music Festival every summer. Now we have so many "out" lesbian performers that the need for this kind of affirmation that we are indeed as talented as the straight world has diminished. So, in defeat there may be strength and committment to the cause. In recent years I have seen less of this.